THE MODEL STOCK PLAN 
merchandise is manufactured most favorably, and a touch of 
imagination and foresight. 
This sounds formidable. It is not exactly easy. Yet the 
chief requisite is the determination to do it and to keep 
everlastingly doing it. Cases are instructive. Let me 
describe one of my own experiences. 
When, a good many years ago, we opened our first garment 
store in Boston, most merchants told us that women’s cotton 
underwear was difficult to earn a profit on. And so it was. 
Practically all of the cotton underwear carried in stores 
was staple. Few manufacturers produced distinctive under- 
wear, for the bulk of such lingerie was made at home. Brisk 
competition on staples that are alike for all stores leads 
inevitably to plain old-fashioned price competition. 
Finding a BB was, therefore, almost impossible under 
these conditions. Rather than accept these conditions 
indefinitely, we preferred to help our customers and ourselves 
by supplying BB’s in distinctive merchandise—artistic 
lingerie at prices lower than it would have cost to make it at 
home. 
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French underwear was distinctive, using more laces and 
hand embroidery than American. Using French samples, 
we began striving for similar effects with our staple garments. 
We developed for our highest-priced full line articles trimmed 
with real lace, a distinct departure. Working in this way 
we created more than one BB, around which we built our 
full lines. 
Nightdresses, for instance, usually sold at $1, $1.10, $1.17, 
$1.25, $1.35, $1.50, and so on. We established a full-line 
price at 98 cents and then began searching the market for 
goods that could be secured at $8.50, $9.00, and $9.50 a 
dozen and sold at 98 cents. We could find a few lines at $9.00 
or $9.50 but many more were priced at $10.50, $11.00 or 
$12.00 a dozen. 
We found that we could sell great quantities of nightgowns 
at 98 cents. The large quantities we could use were a great 
help in buying but not a sufficient help. Finally, we found 
that by planning far ahead and placing our orders to be filled